Florida Georgia Line Call AMA Nominations “Very Crazy”

Florida Georgia Line better get used to crazy. When I caught up with Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard a few weeks ago, they told me how it felt to have four nominations at this year’s American Music Awards.

“Very surreal. Very crazy,” Kelley said of the awards show airing Sunday night (Nov. 24) on ABC. “We walked the carpet last year and just hung out and met some people. So to go back this year with four nominations, it kinda makes me want to pass out a little.”

The four nominations include new artist of the year and single of the year for their “Cruise”
remix with Nelly, along with nods in the country category for favorite band, duo or group and favorite album for Here’s to the Good Times. And even though they haven’t won any AMAs yet, Kelley is already quick to credit the fans.

“It really is the power of the fans,” he said. “They’re just diehards, man. They embraced the remix. Fans are spreading the music and making other fans. It’s a special time in our career and in music, in general. Music is always continuing to evolve.”

Kelley and Hubbard are aware that not everyone has embraced what they’re doing, but it sounds like they don’t pay much attention to their naysayers.

“People can criticize what they want, but the music is selling. A lot,” Kelley said. “That means people are doing something right.”

I asked Hubbard if he would commemorate an AMA win with a new tattoo. He said he already has nine or 10 — including the messages “Play Hard, Work Hard” and “By the Grace of the Lord, I Have Been Saved” — covering so much of his body. But he assured me, “There’s a lot of space left.”